Lead extractor for pipe joints



F. D. BARNE5 LEAD EXTRACTOR FOR PIPE JOINTS Filed July 28, 1955 UnitedStates Patent LEAD EXTRACTOR FOR PIPE JOINTS Frank D. Barnes, Ironton,Ohio Application July 28, 1953, Serial No. 370,710

ll Claim. (Cl. 30-168) This invention relates to a lead extractor andhas for an object to provide an improved plumbers tool for extractinglead, caulking or packing from the joints of soil pipes or analogousjoints.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved plumbers toolfor extracting lead from a pipe joint by driving this tool into the pipejoint and cut out the lead in the joint piece by piece around the jointuntil the entire joint has been removed by means of this invention.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide a single onepiece tool in the nature of a channel shaped chisel having a hammerreceiving surface at the other end thereof, so that it may be driveninto the lead packing by means of a hammer, and receive the cut outportion of the lead packing within the channel and the chisel fromwhence it may easily be removed after the tool has been removed from thejoint.

Briefly, the lead extractor tool of this invention is made of a hardmetal and includes a shank handle having a hammer or jar receivingsurface at one end thereof, and at the other end is provided with achannel shaped chisel end whose longitudinal axis is ofi set to the axisof the handle shank, and which terminates in a beveled cutting edge withthe points at the sides of the channel, and the cutting surface beveledbackwardly toward the bight of the channel, so that the channel may beplaced against the soil pipe adjacent the lead packing in the joint andthen driven into the lead packing by hammer or jar blows struck againstthe other end of the handle shank, thus, driving the channel into thelead packing, cutting out a portion of the lead packing, which issqueezed into the channel, and then removing the tool, so that the leadin the channel may be removed, then repeating the operation about thejoint until all the lead is removed, thus, enabling the joint to beseparated as desired.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, this invention comprisesthe combination, construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter setforth, claimed and disclosed in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. l is a side elevation of the channel shaped chisel and cuttingedge.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal, sectional, elevational view of the Cuttinghead as seen on line 22 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the chisel cutting head.

Fig. 4 is a vertical, sectional, elevational view on line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is an overall general perspective showing the chisel driven intothe lead or caulked joint to be removed.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, but showing the chiseled workinghead withdrawn from the joint and exposing the portion of lead or caulkthat has been removed by the tool.

There is shown at 10 the lead extractor of this invention as having ahandle shank 11, here shown as octagonal in cross section having ahammer blow or jar receiving surface 12 at one end thereof, andconnected by an angle portion 14 to a cutting head generally shown at15. This 2,757,452 Patented Aug. 7, 1956 cutting head 15 is U or channelshaped as clearly brought out in Figs. 3 and 4 with the sides 16 of theU or channel extending away from the bight 17 in a direction on theoutside of the angle between the head 15 and the handle shank 11.

At the extreme end of the cutting head 15, there is providing a beveledchiseled cutting edge 18 which bevels backwardly from the points 20 onthe side 16 of the chisel cutting edge 21 extending across the end ofthe bight 17.

In operation, the lead extractor 10 is held by its handle shank 11 withits cutting head 15 placed parallel to and in contact with the outercircumference of the male pipe 22, which was secured in the female pipe23 at the joint 24 by means of the lead or caulked packing 26. With thisinvention, it is possible to easily remove this lead or caulked packing16, so as to separate the soil pipes 22 and 23 from each other, andthus, break or separate the joint 24. This is done by placing the toolor lead extractor 11 in the position shown in Fig. 5, as just described,and hitting the hammer receiving surface 12 with a hammer or othersuitable jar, so as to drive the working head 15 into the packing 26. Asthe working head 15 enters into the packing 26, the sharp points 29 willguide it along the male pipe 22 and the sharpened edges leading from thepoints 20 to the chisel sharpened edge 21 of bight 17 will cut into thepacking 26 removing a slug 27.

After the working head 15 has been driven entirely through the packing26, the tool is removed and the slug 27 is then knocked out from thechannel or U, and then the tool is used in a similar manner to remove anaddi tional slug working around the circumference until all the packing26 has been removed.

Obviously, in view of the open end of the working head 15 where it isjoined by the angle portion 14 to the shank 11, it is not necessary toremove each individual slug, but as soon as the tool has been driven into pick up a slug or packing, it may be withdrawn, then movedcircumferentially around to a distance equal to the width of the workinghead, and then driven in again, each new slug merely pushing eachprevious slug along the working head, and when the working head is full,the end slugs will drop successively out of the open end of the workingor cutting head, thus, speeding up the operation of the tool.

While the device has been shown and the structure described in detail,it is obvious that this invention is not to be considered as beinglimited to the exact form disclosed, and that changes in detail andconstruction may be made therein within the scope of What is claimed,without departing from the spirit of this invention.

I claim:

A lead extractor for extracting lead packing from soil pipes andanalogous joints comprising a hard metal tool having a handle shank witha hammer receiving surface at one end, and a channel shaped chisel andcutting head, U-shaped in cross section, extending at an obtuse anglefrom its other end, the end portion of the bight of the U being slightlycurved inwardly away from the sides of the U, said sides extending insubstantial parallelism to each other and meeting said bight at a sharpobtuse angle, the open face of the U being diametrically opposed to thedirection in which the handle extends, the ends of the sides of the Uextending outwardly beyond the end of the bight of the U to form saidchisel and cutting head, the U and the sides thereof forming saidcutting tool, said sides and said bight end being bevelled, whereby thecutting head and chisel may be held with the open face of the Udownwardly against the pipe at the joint, with the obtusely-angledhandle shank extending away from the pipe to receive a hammer blow tocause said chisel 3 and cutting head to be driven into the lead packingto cut a slug therefrom and allow the slug received in the open U ofsaid chisel to be squeezed between the sides thereof so that said slugmaybe extracted from said joint.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS376,136 Burrowes Ian. 10, 1888

